I'm sure you have a local course that you favor. You most likely know every patch of crab grass and every golf cart tire track on that course. If you don't, keep your scorecard next time (or grab a blank one to keep). When you have 5 or 10 free minutes, visualize playing a hole. What are the wind conditions? How fast are the greens? Walk through the entire hole, shot for shot, in your head. Imagine each shot from the shot planning and club selection, to the swing, to the follow-through. Watch the ball fly, just as planned, and roll down the center of the fairway or land softly on the green.
Don't fall into the "Tin Cup" trap, though. Don't imagine the perfect shot on the 72nd hole of the Masters. Just keep it simple. You want to visualize a par round. You should play each hole in your head the way you want to work toward playing it in real life. Imagine pars on the hard holes and maybe a birdie on a short par 3.
You will also want to imagine recoveries. While you are (in fantasy) standing in the fairway, picture your shot landing perfectly 10 or 15 feet from the hole. But after you finish a hole, or before you hit your putt, think about recovering from a sand trap. You ultimately want to achieve complete mental preparedness by the time you get on the course next time. Then you can focus on the physical swing instead of worrying about the things that the pros have caddies to worry about.
